The Mindful Path to Self Compassion Freeing Yourself from Destructive Thoughts and Emotions by Christopher K. Germer, Ph.D.

The Mindful Path to Self Compassion Freeing Yourself from Destructive Thoughts and Emotions by Christopher K. Germer, Ph.D.

Christopher Germer is writing a book that combines buddhism, meditation, and psychology. While it includes buddhist practices, there is little preaching. In some ways, the book mirrors the concept of a higher power in alcoholics anonymous where the practitioner is asked to believe in a higher power, but not necessarily a religious one.

Librarians often run into issues surrounding this material. Sometimes we are asked to find books on meditation for example, but not religious meditation, or yoga, but not with a religious element.

The meditation exercises are focused on accepting emotions, self compassion, and "loving kindness." This is not a self help book in the traditional sense. It is more focused on self acceptance than self improvement.

I read the book much faster than the author would have wanted me to. This book is meant to be used over a length of time. The meditative exercises in this book take time to do. Some of them are not easy. Because this is a book of practices, the person using it will get as much out of it as they put into it.

Some of the types of exercises are walking meditation, breathing exercises, repeated phrases, and keeping a journal of your emotions. Christopher K. Germer combines meditation with emotions.

In addition to exercises, the author includes psychological research and neuroscience. You could call this book a book of complementary psychology, much like complementary medicine combines traditional medicine with alternative practices. Some of the concepts I liked were the "hedonic treadmill", and changes in brain function associated with long term meditative or religious practices.

The author is a Clinical Instructor of Psychology at Harvard and a founding member of the Institute for Meditation and Psychology.

There are several appendixes, extensive notes with citations from prominent journals, and an index.

Daily Thoughts 3/5/2010

"La Liseuse" - Pastel drawing of painter's second daughter, Louise, aged 19. Charles Louis Gratia (1815-1911), Photograph by Herve Piraud.

Daily Thoughts 3/5/2010

Good morning. Today is another quiet day. I designed a few flyers for programs I am planning on doing; a poetry program, a film, and the graphic novels club. These are programs which I like doing and are not that hard to do. I also designed a larger 11" x 17" flyer for Women's History month which is March. I am looking at the graphic novels bookmark which was just printed up for me.

This afternoon, I did some more weeding in the mezzanine. Things are moving steadily along. Pretty soon, the paperbacks are going to be moved as well. This has been a very large project. There is still a lot to think about.

On the way home, I read some more of The Mindful Path to Self Compassion. It reminds us that the self help movement is often based on the concept of self perfectionism. There never seems to be a point where you are good enough, happy enough, or healthy enough in many self help books. I like to think it is alright to sometimes just relax and be yourself. I am almost finished reading the book.

Daily Thoughts 3/2/2010

Thomas Mann [1875 - 1955], Deutscher Schriftsteller, 1904

Daily Thoughts 3/2/2010

On the way to work, I read some of The Mindful Path to Self Compassion. There is a little bit of neuroscience and psychology in the book. There is a place in the brain called the "default network" which is a state of the mind being at rest. It is supposed to be more active in those people who meditate. I also like that it covers the concept of the "hedonic treadmill." This is the idea that when you reach a goal you will most likely want more continuously. The book includes short summaries of different ideas from psychology that can impact us directly.

Today, I did some more weeding in the 800s as well as weeding in the storage section. I also checked on how shifting is going. It is moving along. I also checked the displays to see that they are in order.

We are going to be ordering books on Thursday. I am also gathering information for the bimonthly report. I also had a few minutes to read the bulletin boards from the online class Fundamentals of Collection Development and Management. Most of the libraries in the class do an annual usage survey for collection development.

I took some time and went through the Purchase Alerts which we get a list of titles which are requested for holds, our patron request sheet which we keep at the reference desk, and a request sheet for items which we send to the book mobile once a month. We got a request for music that was only available online in the mp3 format, it was jazz by Stephen Ehret.

On the train home, I read some more of The Mindful Path to Self Compassion. A lot of the book is specific meditation techniques that are focused on emotions and how to accept them. I rather liked the description of walking meditation. Appendix A can be found online, http://www.derose.net/steve/resources/emotionwords/ewords.html It is a list of some 800 different words for emotions.

There is something which I do not discuss that often. There is separation between church and state and the public library is very much a public institution. This means we are not supposed to promote a specific religion or a specific political cause like a political party at the library. This makes it rather interesting writing about a book which has it roots in buddhist meditation practices.

However, we are at the same time, supposed to buy books on religion, politics, and philosophy. This means in practice we are inclusive in our selection of materials, trying not to exclude different viewpoints. It can be very interesting. How does one judge the quality of one of these types of books without judging the particular viewpoint. Do we rely on the quality of the writing? Are we supposed to focus on members of the religion or philosophy writing about it from their own viewpoint? Do we look for someone who writes in a neutral purely factual tone?

For a while I worked in the central division of a large public library ordering a lot of material on non western religion and mysticism. I don't read it as much as I used to. You settle into your own ideas after a while.